Medjugorje

I arrived late last night to Medjugorje... I flew into Split and from there a driver took me here to Medj. Its a beautiful trip through the mountains of Croatia.

I woke up early...had a huge breakfast (BTW: the food here is excellent!) and then off to the church for mass. I missed mass because I was in the wrong place. The language here is so difficult to understand. So i stayed in the church for a good long while letting it soak in. This place is so beautiful. I keep trying to imagine what this place must of been like before 1981 (before the Blessed Mother appeared to the 6 young children.)


I met some really nice people from Boston...they were coming out of mass just as i was searching for it... It turned out to be great...they let me tag along...they had a private meeting with: Jakov Colo. He had daily apparitions from June 25th, 1981 to September 12th, 1998. On that day, entrusting to him the tenth secret, Our Lady told him that for the rest of his life he would have one yearly apparition, on Christmas Day. Jakov is married, he has three children, and he lives here with his family in Medjugorje.




After that I went up Cross mountain: The Cross of Mt. Krizevac (Cross Mountain) is the most significant, and dominant feature in the landscape of Medjugorje. It gives us a clue as to why Our Lady chose this village and region for the manifestation of Her love and concern for us. Overlooking the church of Saint James, and visible for miles and miles around the valley below.


The fifteen ton concrete Cross was constructed by the people of the area in 1933 in thanksgiving for the cessation of crop damaging hail storms, and to commemorate the nineteenth centenary of the Redemption. Their spirit of penance, and the understanding of its importance, were shown by the simple fact that all the material which went into its construction, was carried up the 1770 foot mountain by hand. The cross was so important to the people that they changed the name of it from Sipovac to Krizevac (Kriz is the Croatian word for Cross). It became the custom, even prior to the apparitions, to celebrate Mass there each year on the Feast of the Exaltation of the Holy Cross (September 14). On every Friday, people would climb the mountain to pray the Stations of the Cross which were led by the parish priest. Clearly, the little village of Medjugorje was filled with the faith and love of God even before the apparitions began.

It was a real test to go up that mountain! It was so cold and I had on the wrong kind of shoes...no traction whatsoever! And the descent was even trickier... It was great experience of prayer and penance.